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Plot Summary of Volume 3: Alphas
Background Volume 3 takes place in the year 3061, eighteen years after the events of Operation Horus. Iris Lawton and the surviving halfkinds of HORUS have fled to Horus Backup Island, and have been living there the last eighteen years. Bastion and Iris have given birth to a daughter named Ivy. Lucy has departed and runs her own operations from an unknown location. Meanwhile, the United Species Alliance has harvested Lionel Changer's research and created their own implants based off his research. A boom of technology occurred as a result, mainly medical advances. However, General Rox has been tasked utilizing the implants for military purposes. Rox leaves the only survivor of HORUS, Mark Allen to sort out Changer's research and weaponize it. Allen is a prisoner held in Arkady Research Prison. He and Eli Winde spend the next decade creating prototypes. Their base are two members of the Snow Family who were severely injured and comatose as a result of the explosion during Iris Lawton's escape. Lastly, the emerging threat of a being known as The Collector has been brought to the attention of General Rox. The creature is rumored to be kidnapping animals off the street in the city of Shogun in the crime country of Fan Zui Bin. It is rumored that elephant crime boss Two Van Faye has a major role with the kidnappings. Thus the parallel stories combine into one final conclusion. SPOILERS AHEAD!!! Plot Summary Build Up and Back Stories Like Volume 2, Volume 3 is built on several sub-stories that converge toward the conclusion of the novel. ''Life on Horus Backup Island'' Iris Lawton is now in her late thirties, living in one of the many pods scattered on the island with her daughter Ivy. The two have a very closer relationship. Ivy respects and loves her mother, and is extremely loyal. The same could not be said for Ivy's feelings to her father, Bastion. Their relationship is cold and one-sided. Bastion loves her daughter, but Ivy nearly hates him. This is because of the influence of her mother. Iris and Bastion haven't talked for years. Their relationship is also one-sided. Though they are separated, Bastion still loves Iris greatly. However, Iris hates him. It is shown through a series of flashbacks that Lucy had lived with Iris and Bastion in their earlier years. Lucy and Iris formed a deep friendship. Lucy also serves as Ivy's teacher, thus the young halfkind and Lucy had a close bond. Bastion on the other hand grew jealous of their relationship and suspicious that Lucy was continuing Lionel's work on genetic manipulation. Bastion feared such experimentation will attract the Alliance and their safety will be in danger. Iris showed a more neutral stance, as she sees Lucy as the savior of their species. Things reached a boiling point when Bastion discovered Lucy had introduced Ivy to her experiments. Furthermore, the revelation that Ivy possessed telekinetic powers pushed Bastion to the edge. He confronts Lucy with a blaster in hand and exiles her off the island. This caused the divide between Iris and Bastion. Eventually, Iris forced Iris away from her and the two currently live separately. Ivy still trains with her father, but her behavior has been odd the past few weeks. Bastion investigates and finds evidence that Ivy may be working with Lucy on some seedy business in Fan Zui Bin. With their daughter at stake, Bastion decides he must speak with Iris so they can work together to save their daughter. Iris agrees to meet him. ''Fan Zui Bin and the Alphas'' Fan Zui Bin was built on top of the remains of The Event. Over the decades following the event, it has evolved into a crime mecca, a lawless land rules by several powerful families over once was Asia. One boss is Two Van Faye who rules over the city of Shogun. There have been rumors she is linked to the disappearances of several animals. What is actually occurring is she is a supply, a trafficker to a being known as The Collector. The Collector is shrouded in mystery, with only a few bosses coming in contact with the creature. Van Faye sends her thugs to capture animals unfortunate enough to owe her credits and then sells them to The Collector at a profit. Most of these creatures are low-lives, such as Adachi Konoe and Van Faye has the authorities in her pocket. Thus she is able to get away hands clean. However, this activity has gotten the attention of the Alliance. General Rox sees this as the perfect opportunity to send his Alphas on a field test. He is able to piece the information together, and sends the Alphas to Shogun to confront Van Faye. He does so after Van Faye has successfully captured and sold Konoe to The Collector. Promising a profitable deal and amnesty from the Alliance, he brokers a deal with Van Faye to double cross The Collector. Van Faye agrees, and the stage is set for the showdown. The confrontation goes down. The Collector is revealed to be very powerful, possessing advanced forms of telekinesis. Van Faye's bodyguard Sai is killed in the process, and one of the Alphas, Blackwolf is destroyed. The Collector is able to escape. Rox agrees to honor his and Van Faye's deal, and continues his pursuit of The Collector with only Silverwolf to use. ''Lucy and Her Expirements'' After Lucy was banished from Horus Backup Island, she took up a new home in a base at an undisclosed location. There, she continues Lionel Changer's work. Her goal is to create a new generation of halfkinds so her species will survive. It is revealed she is in communication with bosses like Van Faye, buying the trafficked animals so that she can harvest their genetic structure to artificially splice halfkinds. She had abandoned Lionel's method of birthing implants. Lucy imprisons these animals, only using them when it is time for extraction, which results in their deaths. She gains a new captive in Adachi Konoe, a mouthy cat from Shogun that was purchased from Van Faye. After some conversation, he is unfortunate enough to go through her extraction process. ''Fenrir's Flashbacks'' Fenrir is present in Volume 3 through a series of flashbacks, focusing on how he and Iris built a relationship together. Endgame Towards the conclusion of the novel, The Collector and Silverwolf have one last battle at the Hanamura Supply Depot, with The Collector coming out as the victor. As Silverwolf lays there in defeat, The Collector disables its power and communications, cutting off Rox and Mark Allen who have been watching the whole time. The Collector is then revealed to be none other than Iris Lawton. Lawton has gained telekinetic powers over time, and has secretly been coordinating and supporting Lucy in her goals. Lucy organizes the meetings with the bosses, and Lawton shows up garbed as The Collector to collect. Iris travels via a personal porter Silverwolf is also revealed to be a comatose and near zombified Fenrir Snow. Blackwolf was built off of Fang Snow With Fenrir's soul completely gone from him, and nothing left but machine, Iris tearfully kills her soulmate, granting him mercy. Iris then meets Bastion as scheduled. During the meeting, Iris reveals to Bastion she has been working with Lucy the whole time under his nose. Bastion is confused and betrayed. He lashes out in rage and the two have a deadly battle. Years of tension have built up and Iris finally does what she has been longing to do for so long, kill the halfkind who has created a mental prison for her. With a plunge of a knife, Iris kills Bastion. Ivy is shown to be aware of her mother's plans both as The Collector and the fate of her father, but is supportive of her mother. Iris then personal ports to Lucy's base. After some catching up, it is revealed that Lucy's base is on The Moon.